ABSTRACT
The fact that owners of estates within the Ritterschaft administrative districts were entitled to a seat in the state assembly set them apart from most other employers in Germany. With this political power they were able to influence the legal framework for working relations in the estate villages, chiefly by blocking unwanted reforms, and preserving legislation beneficial to themselves. The laws governing employment contracts of resident estate workers, which benefited all estate owners, were a case in point. The oldest, introduced with the abolition of serfdom in 1820, and in order to limit the potential damage of abolition to employers, committed resident labourers and servants to a particular estate for a year at a time; workers could only terminate their contracts on one day in the year, October 24 (after the harvest), and after giving six months notice. This restriction on the freedom of movement of agricultural workers was strengthened by Master and Servants Laws (Gesindeordnungen), which affected the hands and maids on the estates, and by additional legislation concerning the ‘punishment of breach of duty’ (Bestrafung der Dienstvergehen) covering all nonspecialist, resident estate workers. Against a backdrop of labour shortage caused by high rates of rural-urban migration Mecklenburg’s numerous Gesindeordnungen were consolidated into one piece of legislation governing both states in 1894 and 1899, and the law governing breach of duty was similarly revised in 1885 and 1892. The degree of August 1892 criminalized ‘disobedience’ (Ungehorsam) and leaving or stopping work without permission; workers who contravened its terms could be fined 30 Marks or
1 [‘Richtig ist endlich, daß das Verhältnis des Landwirts zum Landarbeiter ein Herrschafts-verhältnis ist und bleiben muß. Der eine Teil muß dem anderen sagen, was er zu tun hat und diesen Anordnungen muß Folge geleistet werden; es muß Arbeitsdiziplin herrschen;
jailed for two weeks, or, if they escaped the estates, forcibly returned by a branch of the police (Gesindepolizei). From April 1899 estate servants were also required to have work-permits listing the estate to which they had been contracted, and these had to be stamped by management before they could work elsewhere. This legislation was thus designed to tie labour to the estates, but it also provided employers with the means to be rid of unwanted workers. Contracts always contained numerous reasons for dismissal, and no period of notice was usually required. All agricultural workers could be fired on the spot for disobedience (not only fined or imprisoned).2
